CHIP: A $9 Microcomputer that Went Viral on Kickstarter and Raised Over $1M

Next Thing‘s Chip, a tiny microcomputer that was targeting to raise $50,000, has now raised over $1 million on Kickstarter, in just five days from 21,485 backers. It is an affordable computer targeted at students, teachers, grandparents, children, artists, makers, hackers, and inventors and is available only for $9.

Chip is powered by 1GHz processor with a 512MB RAM and 4GB of storage. It has a built in WiFi and Bluetooth. It comes preloaded with various open source softwares including the LibreOfiice (for working on documents), Chromium browser (to surf the web), and Scratch (a coding tool to learn the basics of programming) by making games, stories, and animations. It is based on an open source operating system and is seen as a direct competitor to Raspberry Pi 2 Model B that was launched in February with a price tag of $35.

Also, it comes preinstalled with useful applications, tools and games, and beyond those it can run thousands of free applications from the open source community.

The others companies which also raised quick funding through Kickstarter include Pebble Time and Oatmeal’s Exploding Kittens card game. Pebble Time broke Kickstarter record by surpassing $1 million mark in just 49 minutes. The Oatmeal’s Exploding Kittens card game has raised $2 million in just 24 hours on Kickstarter earlier this year.